1. Field
The present invention relates generally to computer security and, more specifically, to preventing the unauthorized output of data from a computing platform.
2. Description
Many computing platforms, such as personal computers (PCs), are used for critical data management tasks. Such tasks include managing and manipulating financial, confidential, or other sensitive data. For example, many businesses keep detailed customer lists, which possibly include e-mail addresses, passwords, credit card numbers, identification numbers, and so on. Typical “off the shelf” computing platforms, such as PCs, provide for at least several mechanisms to output data from the platforms. Such mechanisms include input/output (I/O) ports coupled to various types of peripheral devices. Often the computing platforms are owned by a party that does not own the sensitive data, and operated by employees and/or contractors. When sensitive data is being handled, it may be desirable to ensure that the employees who are operating the computing platforms do not have the means to remove the data from the platforms.